Blocking
Blocking is a means of preventing damage from enemy attacks by fending with a shield, staff or dual wielded weapons.
The base chance to block when using a shield or a staff is determined by the base item type. When dual wielding, the base chance to block is 15% no matter which weapons are used.
Additional chance to block can be achieved by taking certain passive skill nodes and by using spells such as Tempest Shield. Usually only attacks can be blocked, but there are passives that grant a chance to block spells.
Block chance is capped at 75%. Although it may not even possible to achieve, the chance to block spells is also capped at 75%.
Mechanics
Blocking an attack prevents all damage and harmful effects including status ailments.
When an attack is blocked, the game first calculates if the attack would have caused a stun were it not blocked. If it would have caused a stun, the blocking animation is played, stunning you briefly. If it would not have caused a stun, then you get a "free" block with no animation. Faster Block and Stun Recovery and Increased Block Recovery modifiers reduce the length of the blocking animation.
The following formula shows the duration of the blocking animation in milliseconds:
Block Duration = 350 * (1 / ( 1 + Block and Stun Recovery + Block Recovery ) )
If you cannot be stunned, the block animation will never play.
Status ailments have no affect on your block chance, but frozen will prevent the block animation from playing if it otherwise would, and chilled will make it take longer to play (since those two work by decreasing the speed at which your character plays animations).
Passives
There are passive skill nodes that grant additional chance to block or a combination of bonuses including chance to block.
Chance to Block with Shield
These passives increase chance to block attacks with a shield equipped.
In the case of Shield Block and Spell Blocking, a percentage of block chance is added to chance to block spells.
| Icon | Name | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| File:Passive-shieldblock.png | Shield Block |
|
| File:Passive-bulwark.png | Bulwark |
|
| File:Passive-shieldblockanddefenses.png | Shield Block and Block Recovery |
|
| File:Passive-shieldblockanddefenses.png | Shield Block and Defenses |
|
| File:Passive-shieldmastery.png | Shield Mastery |
|
| File:Passive-shieldblockanddefenses.png | Shield Block and Spell Blocking |
|
| File:Passive-block.png | Block |
|
| File:Passive-weaponartistry.png | Weapon Artistry |
|
Chance to Block with Staff
These passives increase chance to block attacks with a staff equipped.
| Icon | Name | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| File:Passive-staffblock.png | Staff Block |
|
| File:Passive-battlestafftraining.png | Battle Staff Training |
|
| File:Passive-whirlingbarrier.png | Whirling Barrier |
|
Chance to Block while Dual Wielding
These passives increase chance to block attacks while dual wielding. The type of weapon does not matter as long as a weapon is held in each hand.
| Icon | Name | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| File:Passive-dualwieldblock.png | Dual Wield Block |
|
| File:Passive-bladebarrier.png | Blade Barrier |
|
| File:Passive-dervish.png | Dervish |
|
| File:Passive-block.png | Block |
|
| File:Passive-weaponartistry.png | Weapon Artistry |
|
Block Recovery
These passives increase the rate of recovery for being immobilized after blocking an attack powerful enough to stun.
| Icon | Name | Bonuses |
|---|---|---|
| File:Passive-blockrecovery.png | Block Recovery |
|
| File:Passive-shieldblockanddefenses.png | Shield Block and Block Recovery |
|
| File:Passive-stunrecovery.png | Stun Recovery |
|
